>> MAD AS HELL, NOT GOING TO TAKE IT: The Internet is f**ked (but we can fix it), by Nilay Patel: "Massive companies like AT&T and Comcast have spent the first two months of 2014 boldly announcing plans to close and control the internet through additional fees, pay-to-play schemes, and sheer brutal size -- all while the legal rules designed to protect against these kinds of abuses were struck down in court for basically making too much sense... The internet is a utility, just like water and electricity... There is zero competition to provide that utility to Americans... No internet provider deserves special treatment... The FCC is weak and ineffective... The United States should lead the world in broadband deployment and speeds: we should have the lowest prices, the best service, and the most competition. We should have the freest speech and the loudest voices, the best debate and the soundest policy. We are home to the most innovative technology companies in the world, and we should have the broadband networks to match. We should stop f**king it up." The Verge

>> BONNEVILLE FLATS: Ultimate cloud speed tests: Amazon vs. Google vs. Windows Azure, by Peter Wayner: "A diverse set of real-world Java benchmarks shows that Google is fastest, Azure is slowest, and Amazon is priciest... I tested small, medium, and large machine instances on Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, and Microsoft Windows Azure using the open source DaCapo benchmarks, a collection of 14 common Java programs bundled into one easy-to-start JAR… For comparison, I also ran the benchmarks on a basic eight-core (AMD FX-8350) machine with 16GB of RAM on my desk. It was generally faster than Windows Azure's eight-core machine, just a bit slower than Google's eight-core machine, and about the same speed as Amazon's eight-core box. Yet the price was markedly different. The desktop machine cost about $600, and you should be able to put together a server in the same ballpark. The Google machine costs 82 cents per hour or about $610 for a 31-day month. You could start saving money after the first month if you build the machine yourself." InfoWorld

>> DEARLY DEPARTED: Mt. Gox's demise marks the end of bitcoin's first wave of entrepreneurs, by Kim-Mai Cutler: "While Bitcoin has had a long and volatile history given numerous thefts and scams, Mt. Gox may represent its biggest crisis in confidence to date. For well over a year, Mt. Gox was Bitcoin's largest and most visible player as the biggest exchange in the world. Not only is the sheer headline size of the losses enormous at $400 million, the cryptocurrency crossed over into mainstream consciousness last year. In Bitcoin's more obscure days, a choir of true believers rallied every time a hoax or theft emerged. But a collapse at this scale may irreparably damage the Bitcoin's image in the eyes of retail investors. Or at least set it back a few years." TechCrunch> 'Dear Mt. Gox Customers: In light of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox's operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly. Best regards, MtGox Team' Mt. Gox site> Mt. Gox CEO says leaked documents more or less legit CoinDesk> Japanese authorities looking into Mt. Gox amid US subpoena report PCWorld> SecondMarket to launch first New York-based Bitcoin exchange Fortune> Bitcoin experiment in real lifeWall Street Journal> Bitcoin and the Mt. Gox disasterBloombergView

>> REBOOT: RSA's Coviello calls for global surveillance reforms, enhanced privacy protection, by Michael Mimoso: "Coviello reiterated that RSA's partnership with the NSA is a matter of public record, but that circumstances require a re-evaluation of that relationship. RSA, for example, works closely with the NSA's defensive arm, the Information Assurance Directive (IAD); Coviello said he supports a presidential review group's recommendation to simplify the NSA's role as solely a foreign intelligence gathering unit and that the IAD be spun out and managed by another agency. Coviello also called for global reform of surveillance and privacy protections, outlining four principles he urges governments worldwide to consider. Those include the international renouncing of cyberweapons; cooperation between governments to investigate and prosecute cybercriminals; ensure the security of commerce online and the protection of intellectual property; and ensure privacy for individuals." ThreatPost> Split the NSA in two, says security firm embroiled in NSA scandal Wired> Juniper SVP to Silicon Valley: get ready for WWIII Fortune

>> LAW & ORDER: Exclusive: Google sets roadblocks to stop distracted driver legislation, by Dan Levine: "Google Inc has deployed lobbyists to persuade elected officials in Illinois, Delaware and Missouri that it is not necessary to restrict use of Google Glass behind the wheel, according to state lobbying disclosure records and interviews conducted by Reuters. Legislators who introduced similar bills this year in three other states, New York, Maryland and West Virginia, say they have not yet been contacted by Google. Officials in New Jersey and Wyoming did not respond to inquiries from Reuters." Reuters> Stolen from tech writer, Google Glass dutifully records the suspect VentureBeat

>> BEHIND THE CURTAIN: Inside one of Microsoft's biggest and most mysterious teams, the Applications and Services Group, by Mary Jo Foley: "Of all the teams created during the July 2013 'One Microsoft' reorg, the one that's been the biggest black hole -- in terms of public information about its charter and organization -- has been the Applications and Services Group (ASG). Headed by Executive Vice President Qi Lu, the ASG includes many of the people and products that were formerly parts of the Microsoft Business Division (the home of Office), as well as Bing, MSN, Skype and Advertising." ZDNet> Internal memo: Microsoft names leaders for key Applications & Services Group GeekWire> Microsoft's aha: UI engineer Julie Larson-Green should engineer UIs InfoWorld

>> EXTRA, EXTRA: The future of the news business: A monumental Twitter stream all in one place, by Marc Andreessen: "I am more bullish about the future of the news industry over the next 20 years than almost anyone I know. You are going to see it grow 10X to 100X from where it is today... For better or worse (and maybe both), print journalism is converging in technique and quality towards blogs and Wikipedia. Ed Bott fully decoded this with his original NSA PRISM news stories. Given that change, and the easy slide into probabilistic 'truth,' I am very interested to see how Journalism with a capital J can maintain its reputation for truth and accuracy versus upstart blogs and Wikipedia. For Journalism -- big J -- the stakes are very high if that reputation is lost. But it may be that all journalism wins. Maybe we are entering into a new golden age of journalism, and we just haven't recognized it yet. We can have the best of all worlds, with both accuracy rising, and stories that hew closer to truth." a16z

>> ALL YOUR BASE: 360 million newly stolen credentials on black market: cybersecurity firm, by Jim Finkle: "The discovery could represent more of a risk to consumers and companies than stolen credit card data because of the chance the sets of user names and passwords could open the door to online bank accounts, corporate networks, health records and virtually any other type of computer system... [Hold Security LLC officer Alex] Holden said he believes the 360 million records were obtained in separate attacks, including one that yielded some 105 million records, which would make it the largest single credential breaches known to date. He said he believes the credentials were stolen in breaches that have yet to be publicly reported. The companies attacked may remain unaware until they are notified by third parties who find evidence of the hacking, he said." Reuters

>> Ex-Googler-founded Shape Security picks up another $40M to build out its 'botwall' for businesses TechCrunch